I'll tell you why they stopped showing it, it's a secret consipary brought on by the FBI....the whole plan is too complex for me to explain and your mortal mind to understand..but I will say this, it involved lots of hentai, wild monkeys, and a keg of imported beer..

...actually, I've also wondered myself why they stopped showing it, I think it had something to do with the rest of the series, towards the end, not being suitable for young viewers or something in that area...

Oh how convenient. A theory about God that doesn't require looking through a telescope.

According to Fox, Escaflowne was cancelled due to "low ratings". As for the reason for "low ratings", check out the treatment that was done to the show. The first episode of the original anime version of Escaflowne, which was basically set on Earth, was cut from the Fox version, not to mention that the Fox version's episode count would consist of 23 episodes. Also, the Fox version's musical score was nowhere close to the original musical score that was written by Yoko Konno. As someone at Anime USA 2001 mentioned, just be thankful Fox didn't get the rights to Cowboy Bebop.

The truth is that TV execs behind Fox Kids and Kid WB believe that only boys age 6 - 12 watcha animation and that all their shows should be geared to such an audience.

This is why Escaflowne was butchered for the TV release... to edit all all the things the little boys found boring. They also removed a huge chuck of the Yoko Kanno soundtrack to include horrible techno music.

Then it didn't sell well... imagine! Of course, they blamed the show...

This is not a new story... this sort of thing happens all the time.

One a related note, the reason Cardcaptor Sakura was changed to Cardcaptors was the same reasoning... they were actually trying to market it to a male audience and they were editing it to make Sakura a supporting character in her own show!

While Japanese animation (and American animation for that matter) has all the problems with FCC regulations, that's nothing compared to the business men who are only interested in how they can maximize profits (which is a strange task when they have no idea what it is they're talking about)

Cartoon Network has done a slightly better job. They still have the FCC reg to contend with... but... there is a faction at Cartoon Network (the Toonami people) who love Japanese animation... and would love to have an all anime cable chanel... as opposed to the other faction at Cartoon Network who would love to see all the Toonami people removed and get rid of all the anime, all the new cartoons and just play reruns of the old cartoons... ONLY.

-Uncle Milo

There are two kinds of people in this world:
Those who divide people into two kinds of groups
and those who don't.

I only saw a few eps of Escafklowne when it was on Fox, and I had forgotten almost all about it when I rented disc 1 about three months ago to sample the series. This thread is making me glad I didn't remember much of the Fox version when I rented the real version.

...Dear Goddess, they actually removed portions of the original soundtrack? BASTARDS!! FUCKING EVIL!! The musical score is one of the most important aspects of any show, animated or otherwise!! It sets the pacing and can profoundly affect the viewer, whether they realize it or not! To take that away is to cut up the entire tapestry of the series. I don't care if it's Escaflowne or frikken Dragonball Z, you don't TOUCH the soundtrack!

Sorry to blow up, but that music score part really got me pissed off. I am all about the soundtracks and the use of sound as well as imagry to tell the story.

I can only imagine what the Bebop soundtrack would have been like if Fox had gotten ahold of it...

The fact that there are people who would remove Yoko Kanno's gorgeous music...

The problem is that there are too many people who only value money and profit and have no respect for art or creativity... and these bastards are usually the ones who call the shots.

I know that anime is made to make money...
but before anyone gets into that whole world of capitalism speach, I tell
you that is anime was only about making money... then why are we here?
Why are we on this board?
Why do we love anime?
Why do we make AMVs?

People are way too apathetic in this nation. It really bothers me... sometimes to the point that I can't sleep.

It bothers me more than it should...
I just don't know what to do about it. I see people who simply don't want to be troubled to care about anything and it makes me angry... and no one seems to understand why I get so riled up about it.

Unfortunately, my emotions always get in the way... and so I seem to offer little to help solve these problems.

I have gotten involved with participating in and starting letter campaigns

I have tried to explain stuff like this to other people

but it seems like I'm banging my head against a wall...

and I just get tired and frustrated.

(And this isn't just over the world of anime... it's that whole mindset that people just get into... that safe conformity... that let me worry about getting mine and to hell with the rest of you... why rock the boat attitude that just torments me.)

Anyway...
I think you can all tell that emotion is taking over again here...
and so I better stop ranting now.

Just know, that according to the heads of networks
If you a male over the age of 12 or a girl - you don't watch animation
and any of you who say you do are either fibbing or just insane.

As one of the impossible people,
I say good day to you all.

-Uncle Milo

There are two kinds of people in this world:
Those who divide people into two kinds of groups
and those who don't.

Um... why do people love Linkin Park? Why do people talk about Linkin Park? Why do people make AMVs to Linkin Park? See, Linkin Park is all about making money. There's no dispute there. I mean, their songs are written by a corporation and they have corporate hired voice trainers. There's really no artisitic merit to the band, and yet people build up a shrine to it. So, the answer to your question might well be that you fall into the correct demographic for such-and-such medium to be used as a marketing tool with which to liberate excess cash from your person. What happens beyond that is an unfortunate sideeffect as durring this time you are either A) not working to make money or B) not spending said money on other merchandise.

Now, here's the thing. The buisness world and the world of "art" are not necessarily incompatible. As a matter of fact, most recognized "artists" really are just a different breed of buisness people. But a good buisnessman would encourage good art which would maximize his profit. What you have with Escaflowne and Fox were increadibly stupid buisness people who made increadibly stupid artistic decisions and thus lost money. Don't blame buisness, blame low IQ.

Have any of you watched Escaflowne on YTV? This is why I respect YTV more when it comes to anime, as they don't aim animation to a certain group. They air shows for anyone to watch. If you have also noticed, Escaflowne wasn't butchered or anything on YTV, as the first episode was still in there. The only edits were normal edits for TV, such as blood etc. They never went as far as to eliminate the whole first episode. The soundtarck on the YTV version was kept the same pretty much, as well.

Yah, I get YTV. I guess that's a gimme since I live in Canada. I love a lot of the stuff they have on that channel, like ReBoot, Beasties (wonder why they gave Beasties a different name on Fox, and they don't show neither of these shows anymore), and most of the anime. Did you know lately on Fridays, they've been showing footage of when they went to Anime North? Since I've never been to an anime con, it's cool to watch.

No, Canadian channels do not have softcore porn on after midnight. Also, I don't think some channels would ever show porn, like CBC (gotta love watching the Toronto Maple Leafs), CTV and TSN. The channels continue with regular broadcasting at that time, and some just stop until the morning (when you get that annoying buzzing sound). YTV just keeps showing shows but that late they're not the regular shows, so some of the shows are Are You Being Served and Yes Minister. After that, since normally no one watches, they re-show the afternoon programming like, Monster Rancher and Jackie Chan Adventures and even slip in Gundam Wing at 3:00am (which they took off it's regular timeslot, I wonder what was the point of putting it at 3:00am though.).

One more thing... (a little joke from Jackie Chan Adventures) I thought the dubbed version of Vision of Escaflowne on YTV was really good.